


I Will Always Love You

by Unoriginal_Fangirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Ancient Greece, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Castiel & Dean Winchester Friendship, Castiel (Supernatural) Watches Netflix, Castiel Loves Sam Winchester, Castiel Takes Care of Sam Winchester, Crying Sam Winchester, Declarations Of Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, Monologue, Music, Past Relationship(s), Protective Castiel (Supernatural), Reincarnation, Relationship(s), Sam Winchester Deserves to be Happy, Sam Winchester is Loved, Season/Series 09 Spoilers, Soft Castiel (Supernatural), Speeches, Struggling Sam Winchester, Sweet, Temporary Character Death, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-06 23:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18227165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unoriginal_Fangirl/pseuds/Unoriginal_Fangirl
Summary: Castiel first met Sam when humanity started to become civilized. Greece was a pretty land, the angel could admit as much.Sam's first incarnation was a boy in a relatively rich family in Athens.--Castiel fell for the boy with the lyre in Greece. Now, thousands of years later, that same boy remembers every single life he'd had - and every time he'd loved a mysterious man by the name of Castiel.





	I Will Always Love You

**Author's Note:**

> It's soft Sastiel hours babeyss!!!!

Castiel first met Sam when humanity started to become civilized. Greece was a pretty land, the angel could admit as much.

Sam's first incarnation was a boy in a relatively rich family in Athens. He was sixteen when Cas met him. He had soft brown hair and slightly tan skin, his defined muscles clearly showing.

Beautiful notes rang through the air. Castiel tilted his head. All Athenians were capable musicians, but this… He barely remembered how Lucifer played, but if anything human could come close, this was it. He'd been tasked to await further instructions, but his superior had allowed him to wander Earth.

He followed the sound to the beautiful young man, sitting on a ledge of a house in the middle of the large field. Castiel didn't have to breathe, but if he did, he would have lost it.

The young man played with his eyes almost completely closed, letting his experienced fingers do the work. The picture was almost magical. His soul shone so bright, so pure. Castiel wanted to reach out and touch it.

The last notes hung in the air as the boy set aside the lyre. Castiel was mesmerized to say the least.

Suddenly, the young man laughed. “Are you going to keep standing there?” he asked, turning his gaze to the angel.

Castiel swallowed and approached. “That was beautiful,” he said softly.

“Thank you. I'm Sam,” the young man greeted. He held out a hand, a smile still bright on his soft-looking lips.

Castiel took his hand after a moment of confusion. He wasn't used to human customs, not really. “I'm Castiel.”

Their hands lingered a little, before Sam pulled away and Castiel almost felt disappointed at the lack of warmth against his borrowed hand.

“You wanna hear more? I'm supposed to practice for a little longer, until my brother will retrieve me,” the human explained, picking up the lyre again.

Castiel tilted his head to look at Sam. “Of course. That would be amazing.”

And so Sam got back to playing. His eyelids fell closed, and his hands elegantly moved along the instrument as the music started again.

Once again, Castiel was mesmerized. This boy was unlike any human he had ever seen in his life. He was so kind.

He was playing a dangerous game here, he knew. He wasn't supposed to get in touch with humanity. Not like this.

However, the beautiful tones produced by Sam were as close to heaven as humanity could be down here on Earth.

Then, another, older man stepped in. He approached Sam at a steadfast pace and tapped the younger man's shoulder, making him pause. “Father wants to see you,” he stated.

Sam looked up at the man who was, clearly, his brother. His eyes turned back to Castiel with almost a fearful expression. “I'll see you around, Castiel,” he said slowly.

Castiel nodded.

-

And he did. As long as Castiel was down here, he stayed near the field. He kept his ears open to the near angelic sound of Sam's lyre and moved back to the house. Again and again, every night the young man came out to play. They barely spoke, exchanged hellos and goodbyes before Sam started playing again and before he had to leave.

After a year, they sat down in the shadow of a tall tree, side by side. The lyre was laying in the grass next to Sam, unused.

“Father wants me to join the army,” Sam said quietly, eyes roaming over the field.

Castiel found himself taking a sharp breath. He did get more human as he stayed around Sam. “Do you want to join the army?”

Sam shook his head and leaned back against the bark of the tree. “I'm not a fighter, Cas. I make music, I read stories… My brother is the warrior. He's already in the army. I barely see him.” He leaned his head on Castiel's shoulder, slowly, so the angel could move away if he wanted to.

He didn't. “I was raised a warrior,” he said after a short silence. “I have a lot of siblings, and we were all raised as warriors. Our Father's private army, sort of. Our home there is horrible, so I came here. They let me, as long as I return when they call on me.”

“Will you leave?” Sam asked, almost _scared._

Castiel turned his head to glance at Sam, who tilted his head as well. “No. Not now, at least.” Sam's eye color seemed to shift with every moment, he noticed. It was beautiful.

Sam shifted closer, moving to rest his forehead against Castiel's jaw. “Don't leave,” he whispered.

Castiel wasn't sure what to do. He carefully wrapped his arm around Sam's waist. “I won't,” he just whispered.

And Sam looked up again, a glimmer of hope in those everchanging eyes, and it was the most beautiful image the angel had ever seen. He lifted his head slightly, raising a hand to card it through Castiel's hair. “Promise?”

Castiel probably should have pulled away. Scolded himself for getting so close to the human, returned to heaven. But instead he nodded slowly, looking into Sam's eyes. “Promise,” he breathed out.

Sam barely had to move his head any more to press their lips together. Not made for each other, he knew. Sam was made for Lucifer. But right now, in this perfect moment, Sam was _his_ and _his_ alone.

-

“Cas, I have to leave. I can't stop him, my father, he's sending me away and I'm scared, Cas-”

Castiel grabbed Sam’s arm and tugged him into his arms, cutting him off. “It's okay, Sam. It'll be okay,” he said quietly. He ran his fingers through Sam's soft hair. "I will always love you."

And Sam cried. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he clutched Castiel's clothing in his fingers and he begged the gods to let him stay.

But the gods didn't care about a singular human, much less about the vessel of an archangel.

Not two days later, Sam left for war.

-

Castiel stayed by the house for months, possibly years. And one day, one final day, Dean approached him. Sam's big brother. And he looked devastated.

“Castiel, isn't it?” he asked as he came close enough to talk.

The angel tried to figure why he was like this, but his mind kept going back to the worst-case scenario. “Yes.”

Dean huffed humorlessly. “My brother would never stop talking about you, you know? I don't get the hype man, I really don't, but my father doesn't care and all my friends are dead-”

“Dean. What happened?” Castiel asked, trying (and failing) to keep calm.

Dean looked at him and shook his head. “They killed him,” he finally said. His voice broke. “They killed Sammy.”

-

The next incarnation of Sam was a renowned Roman warrior. Castiel played slave to remain at his side before he was cruelly killed by a demon. The one after that was a scholar, followed by a nobleman and a lower class man. Then he was killed in the war. Castiel was there for each, sometimes waiting a hundred years between incarnations. Most often in the shade of a tree in an otherwise open field would Sam speak of deja vu, but he never remembered.

-

“Hey Cas?” Sam asked in the 21st century, when Cas was no longer crazy and Gadreel was no longer in his body and Dean was back to normal and the first moment of peace they had for just the two of them since before Sam’s mental wall had been broken.

They were on Sam's bed, huddled together, watching Netflix on his TV.

“Yes, Sam?” Cas breathed softly. He turned his head to the hunter he'd known for centuries. Every version of Sam was similar, but they looked a little different. This was by far his favorite. Maybe because he'd actually lived past thirty. Maybe because he was the perfect mixture of battle-hardened and kind, intelligent yet strong, defying his destiny everywhere he went. Maybe just because he was the most handsome, his hair the softest, his soul the most injured yet beautiful thing Cas had ever seen.

Sam kept quiet for a little before turning his head as well. “Should I have run?”

Cas tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Back in Athens. When my father wanted me to become a warrior. You were there, don't you remember?”

Cas turned back to the TV. “I do...remember. You shouldn't remember.”

“Yeah, well, when you broke down my walls I started remembering other things too. Like past lives. You were always there. We were always…” Sam's voice faded into silence.

The look Castiel sent him after that was almost desperate. “Sam,” he breathed, unsure of what to say.

“I never knew you were an angel.”

“You called me that sometimes,” Cas admitted with a quiet chuckle. “If this makes you uncomfortable, I can leave,” he added quickly, trying to figure out Sam's expression.

The situation reminded Cas so much of their first kiss under that tree in Athens. The way Sam was at his side, looking at him.

“No, Cas, I just- I thought you were here for Dean.”

Cas shook his head. “Protecting Dean was my task from Heaven. I stayed, I _fought_ for you.”

And Sam looked so broken, so _alone_ for a second. “Why me?”

Cas raised his hand and pressed his fingers to Sam’s jaw. “Because you’re you, Sam. Because every time I knew you, you were amazing and kind and strong and I have loved you since those days in Athens. Despite everything that happens to you in whatever life, you return with a smile on your face, ready to help others. You're _perfect_ to me. Though I never could make you understand that fact in any of your lives.”

He was pretty sure Sam was holding back tears when he finished. “That’s not me, Cas. I'm not perfect. Remember the demon blood? Ruby?”

Cas scoffed. “I betrayed _Heaven._ I worked with a demon, I played God, and you think I care about human mistakes you've made?”

“I don't deserve to be loved like that. That's become pretty clear to me,” Sam breathed.

Cas pulled Sam to him and hugged him, letting him bury his head in his shoulder. “What makes you think that, Sam?” he asked softly, running gentle fingers through soft brown hair.

“My mother loved me and died. My father _hated_ me for _me._ Dean gets so _angry_ sometimes it terrifies me. Jess died because of me. Kevin trusted me and yet he died by my hands. People either hate me or die, Cas. I can't do that to anyone, not anymore,” Sam said quietly. He was crying now, tears dampening Cas's shirt.

“None of that was your fault, Sam. None of it.” It hurt. Seeing Sam like this, taking the blame for things that happened around him, never because of his own conscious mistakes.

He just let him cry. It took about ten minutes for Sam to calm down, but that was nothing compared to the millennia Cas had lived.

Eventually Sam pulled away, his eyes red and puffy from crying. “Thanks,” he breathed out, looking into the blue eyes of Castiel’s vessel.

“Sam, really. I promised you I would always be there. I haven't been around often in your current life and I wish to change that,” Cas said quietly.

“Do you still…?” Sam didn't finish the question. He didn't have to.

Cas took a deep breath. “Yes. Δεν θα σταματήσω ποτέ να σε αγαπάω. I will never stop loving you.”

“Huh. Me too,” Sam just said before leaning in to kiss Cas.

Cas lifted a hand to Sam's cheek. The kiss never got into the more sexual tones. It was soft, languid. More of a reassurance that they were both here and _alive_ and together.

And for that one blissful moment, all was good.


End file.
